


To Love, Learning, and Good Conversation

by enkelimagnus



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Canon Universe, Catholic Raphael, Catholicism, Gen, Interfaith, Islam, Judaism, Magnus Bane Appreciation Month, Mention of Simon Lewis/Maia Roberts - Freeform, Muslim Magnus, jewish simon, mention of Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 03:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16210871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enkelimagnus/pseuds/enkelimagnus
Summary: As they do regularly, Magnus, Raphael and Simon meet up at Magnus' apartment and discuss religion and being a Downworlder.





	To Love, Learning, and Good Conversation

Three glasses were sitting on the coffee table. Two filled with blood, and one filled with red wine. They could almost be confused for the same liquid. Soft jazz was playing in the background, providing a background to their conversation. 

The blue velvet of his favorite armchair was soft under Magnus Bane’s fingertips. He was alone still, a light heating charm keeping the blood in the glasses from drying out. 

Magnus and Raphael had always had regular meetings like these. They were comfortable, between found father and son, between friends too. They met at Magnus’ apartment, had a drink, and talked about life and spirituality. 

It was not always perfectly civil. Things could get heated between two people of different faiths, of different lifestyles and origins. Raphael was a Catholic, he followed his faith’s rules carefully, he was younger, the root of his faith based much closer to him. It hadn’t been that long since the day he’d learned how to believe. 

Magnus was Muslim. He was an old, tired Muslim, who believed and respected few actual rules of his religion. He was a man who’d lived too long and seen too many things to believe some of the teachings of his faith. 

Recently, another person had started being part of their little reunions. Simon was Jewish, providing another perspective on faith that neither Magnus nor Raphael could provide. 

So to the initial twin glasses, Magnus had added a third, filled with blood as well. The sun was setting, slowly, and he could see the last rays play in the soft veil-like curtains of his windows. They would be here soon after it set completely. 

Simon had taken up a more important position in the clan, acting as Raphael’s second-in-command most of the time. He spent quite the amount of time at the Dumort these days. Between his relationship with Maia that was blossoming a little more every day, and those new responsibilities, Simon’s life was growing better and busier by the minute. 

Raphael had come back to New York after a couple months and resumed his position at the Dumort. He was dealing with the mourning of his sister better these days. Magnus knew the heaviness in his protégé’s shoulders was still there, but it got better every day. 

Magnus was... happy too. He was doing good. He had Alec by his side. He had his magic and his immortality, and he had his title of High Warlock of Brooklyn. He had a wonderful niece, and a gorgeous boyfriend. A good life. 

He was about to take a sip of the glass to “make Simon and Raphael come faster”, when there was a knock on the door. He stood up and walked to open. 

Raphael and Simon were standing there. Raphael was wearing one of his usual suits, and Magnus couldn’t help but thank Allah that Raphael had taken after him in terms of style. Simon, next to him, wasn’t bad. He’d gotten progressively more and more fashionable. Either it was the proximity to Raphael, his friendship with Isabelle, or Magnus himself, his relationship with Maia, or a general “Downworlder effect”. They still had some work to do on him. 

“Welcome to my humble home, gentlemen.” Magnus chuckled and let them in. Raphael rolled his eyes and gave him a light, one-armed hug. 

“We both know there is nothing humble about this, you old dragon.” 

Simon greeted him as well and they got settled into the living room. Alec was at the Institute, like he always was on those meeting nights. He understood how Magnus liked his spiritual discussions. Alec wasn’t religious. He believed in the angels, because he had tangible proof of their existence. It wasn’t faith, it was fact, and it was much more comfortable to him. 

They started drinking their drinks and chatting slightly, enjoying the music. Magnus moved his head slightly at the notes of the music that gently played in the background. It was nice and comfortable. 

Simon and Raphael started a conversation about some of the affairs of the DuMort, and Magnus listened distractedly for a moment. He was proud of them, of course. They were children of his, in a way. 

“So, Simon, you were telling us last time that you’d started practicing again?” Magnus eventually interjected. 

Simon nodded. Jewish faith allowed for a lack of belief. It didn’t, however, allow for such an abandonment of practices. It had been a strange, dark couple of months. 

“I… Practicing as a vampire felt wrong, suddenly. After I… made my mother believe that I was dead, it was like there was no reason for me to keep going. Or so I thought.” 

Raphael nodded. “When I turned, I felt like that too, somehow. That faith was something only mortals, only humans were allowed to have and practice. That now that I was a beast, praying was more of an insult to God, than it was a good thing. How could I still believe He would forgive me, when I was such a monster?” 

“Raphael, dear you’re not a beast. Or a monster.” Magnus interjected. 

Raphael and him shared a look. They’d been through this before. At the beginning, when Magnus had found him a broken shell of a man. Days and nights of gentleness and discussions, over and over until maybe Raphael had come to believe it. 

“I know, Magnus,” the vampire replied. 

Simon hummed. “The reason I was able to go back to practicing… is that I found this website. This website that said that… to every evil there is a good.” He explained. “For every evil vampire, there is a good one. Who am I to know which of the two I am? I don’t know enough to claim anything. But on the chance that I might be the good one… Then I am still in Israel.” 

Magnus hummed. “If i’m not wrong, according to Jewish tradition, the bodies of the perfectly righteous do not decompose in the grave. Just like Moses’ would not.” He nodded. “That theory… is a good one.”

Magnus liked religion. He liked studying texts, and reading about it, meeting those who were members of a faith and talking with them. He liked to understand and learn. Next to the old leather bound Quran in his library, the one he got out every day, there were torah scrolls, and books of the Talmud, and one of the oldest Bibles. He had two Bibles actually, one made by monks, and one with Gutenberg's press. They were preserved by spells, making them impervious to any harm. He remembered the time one of his apartments had caught fire, and the Bible he had in it had been found unscathed. That Bible was now sitting somewhere in the Vatican, along with other holy relics. 

Books, holy or not, were precious. He could spend hours in any book store. He could spend days, decades, in libraries, going through every book in search of more of the knowledge he loved so deeply. He wished often that the lies he told were true, and that he’d been alive while the Library of Alexandria was still open. 

“I was raised with two very different approaches to magic, both cohabitating. There was the voice that said that magic and sorcery were evil, and that Islam condemned it. That… That execution without redemption was the only possible end for a person guilty of witchcraft.” He explained. “There was the everyday magic of the people around me though. Folk magic, spells and prayers to deities that were still worshipped despite the prevalence of Islam.” 

Magnus took a sip of the wine. “My mother’s horror as she learned what I was, was for long associated with magic in my mind. And so was Asmodeus. How could… Allah see me as anything but one of those demonic and evil sorcerers?” he explained. “I committed such terrible acts under Asmodeus, that I didn’t quite believe that religion was ever going to be for me again.” 

Simon hummed. “You still don’t believe in it, do you?” 

Magnus had a small chuckle. “My relationship with Allah will never be what it once was. Not only because I do not feel worthy of it, but also because it is just not in my philosophy after all this time.” 

“Remember what you said to me, my friend. That God is full of love. He doesn’t condemn anyone. No one is set for eternal damnation, even us, poor demonic souls.” Raphael pointed out, tone turning sarcastic on the last few words. 

“You might spend a year or two in Gehinnom.” Simon chuckled. “But in the end, if Allah cannot see how good of a person you are, then maybe He should reconsider his standards.” 

Magnus took another sip of wine. “Look at us. A Muslim warlock with a deep love for alcohol, and men. An asexual Catholic vampire. And a pansexual Jewish vampire. If we still believe in some sort of religion, it’s probably testimony of our God’ benevolence.” 

“Belief… in any thing, is what keeps us going, may we be mundane, or Downworlder.” Simon hummed. “Our sense of identity kinda spans from our beliefs. May they be religious, or otherwise.” 

Raphael nodded. “I second that idea. Belief in something greater than you is a relief in many cases, and a drive.” 

Magnus sent the vampires a look. “Mashallah, aren’t you two wise?” He praised, smiling at them. 

“Well, we are around one of the wisest men in the world, quite often.” Raphael teased and Magnus waved his hand around. 

“You two will be the death of me one day. With your praises.” he chuckled, and snapped his fingers, filling up their glasses again. “Should we toast?” 

Simon nodded. “To love, learning, and good conversation, l’chaim!” 

Raphael raised his glass as well. “To love, learning and good conversation, salud!”

Magnus straightened up and followed them. “To love, learning, and good conversation, indeed, be ṣaḥtak.”


End file.
